A variety of metallocenes and other single site catalysts have been developed to prepare olefin polymers. Metallocenes are organometallic complexes containing one or more π-bonded moieties (i.e., cyclopentadienyl groups) in association with a metal atom. Catalyst compositions containing metallocenes and other single site catalysts are highly useful in the preparation of polyolefins, producing relatively homogeneous copolymers at excellent polymerization rates while allowing one to tailor the final properties of the polymer as desired.
Work relating to certain nitrogen-containing single site catalyst precursors has been published. WO 96/23101 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,880,323 relate to di(imine) metal complexes that are transition metal complexes of certain bidentate ligands, wherein the transition metal is selected from the group consisting of Ti, Zr, Sc, V, Cr, a rare earth metal, Fe, Co, Ni, and Pd.
Similarly, WO 97/02298 relates to a process for the polymerization of an olefin, comprising contacting a polymerizable monomer consisting essentially of ethylene, a norbornene or a styrene, with a catalyst system comprising the product of mixing in solution a zerovalent tricoordinate or tetracoordinate nickel (II) compound which has at least one labile ligand, and all ligands are neutral, an acid of the formula HX, and another compound. Likewise, WO 96/33202 relates to a transition metal catalyst containing a pyridine or quinoline moiety. Fuhrmann et al., Inorg. Chem., 35:6742-6745 (1996) discloses certain Group 4 metal complexes containing amine, amido, and aminopyridinato ligands. U.S. Pat. No. 6,103,657 describes a family of heteroatom-containing catalyst precursors useful for the polymerization of olefins. U.S. Pat. No. 6,255,414 describes the polymerization of olefins using catalysts, which are bridged transition metal complexes of bis(carboximidamidatonates).
WO 01/30861, and Guerin et al, “Confirmationally Rigid Diamide Complexes of Zirconium: Electron Deficient Analogues of Cp2Zr”, Organometallics, Vol 15, No. 26, pp. 5586-5590, 1996, describe bidentate and tridentate ligated Group 3 to 14 metal compounds.
Anionic, multidentate heteroatom ligands are discussed in the following articles:    (1) Kempe et al., “Aminopyridinato Ligands—New Directions and Limitations”, 80th Canadian Society for—Chemistry Meeting, Windsor, Ontario, Canada, Jun. 1-4, 1997;    (2) Jordan et al, of polyolefin catalysts based on hydroxyquinolines (Bei, X.; Swenson, D. C.; Jordan, R. F., Organometallics 1997, 16, 3282);    (3) Horton, et. al., “Cationic Alkylzirconium Complexes Based on a Tridentate Diamide Ligand: New Alkene Polymerization Catalysts”, Organometallics, 1996, 15, 2672-2674 relates to tridentate zirconium complexes;    (4) Baumann, et al., “Synthesis of Titanium and Zirconium Complexes that Contain the Tridentate Diamido Ligand [((t-Bu-d6)N—O—C6H4)2O]2−{[NON}2−) and the Living Polymerization of 1-Hexene by Activated [NON]ZrMe2”, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 119, pp. 3830-3831;    (5) Cloke et al., “Zirconium Complexes incorporating the New Tridentate Diamide Ligand [(Me3 Si)N{CH2CH2N(SiMe3)}2]2−(L); the Crystal Structure of [Zr(BH4)2L] and [ZrCl{CH(SiMe3)2}L]”, J, Chem. Soc. Dalton Trans, pp. 25-30, 1995;    (6) Clark et al, “Titanium (IV) complexes incorporating the aminodiamide ligand [(SiMe3)N {CH2CH2N (SiMe3)}2]2−{L); the X-ray crystal structure of [TiMe2(L)] and [TiCl{CH(SiMe3)2}(L)]”, Journal of Organometallic Chemistry, Vol 50, pp. 333-340, 1995;    (7) Scollard et al., “Living Polymerization of alpha-olefins by Chelating Diamide Complexes of Titanium”, J. Am. Chem. Soc., Vol 118, No. 41, pp. 10008-10009, 1996; and    (8) Guerin et al., “Conformationally Rigid Diamide Complexes: Synthesis and Structure of Titanium (IV) Alkyl Derivatives”, Organometallics, Vol 15, No. 24, pp. 5085-5089, 1996.
Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 5,576,460 describes a preparation of arylamine ligands and U.S. Pat. No. 5,889,128 discloses a process for the living polymerization of olefins using initiators having a metal atom and a tridentate-ligand containing two group 15 atoms and a group 16 atom or three group 15 atoms. EP 893 454 A1 also describes titanium transition metal amide compounds. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 5,318,935 discusses amido transition metal compounds and catalyst systems especially for the producing isotactic polypropylene. Polymerization catalysts containing bidentate and tridentate ligands are further discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,506,184.
Group 4 pyrrolide compounds are described in Inorg. Chem. 2001, 40, 1987; Organometallics 2001, 20, 5788; and Organometallics 2002, 21, 587. Bradley and Chivers, Inorg. Phys. Theor., J. Chem. Soc. (A) 1969 pg 1967-1969; Journal of the Chinese Chemical Society, 2000, 47, 1191-1195; Chemistry Letters 2000 Chemical Society of Japan, pg 1114-1115; Chemistry Letters 2000 Chemical Society of Japan, pg 1270-1271; Zeitschrift Fur Naturforschung, July 1970 Band 25b, Heft 7, pg 1358-1363; Z. Anorg. Allg. Chem. 407, 201-210, 1974; Zeitschrift fur Anorganische und Allgemeine Chemie, band 394, Heft 3, December 1972, pg 209-216; Collect. Czech. Chem. Commun. (vol. 63) 1988, pg 182-186; Journal of the Chinese Chemical Society, 2000, 47, 895-900; Synth. React. Inorg. Met.-Org. Chem., 8(2), 137-147 (1978); JP 2001-261638A1 (published Sep. 26, 2001); JP 2001 261639A (published Sep. 26, 2001); JP 2001 181333A (published Jul. 3, 2001); JP 2000 302810A (published Oct. 31 2000); and JP 2002 332312A (published Nov. 22, 2002).
Dianionic tridentate-ligand group 4 compounds are described in Inorg. Chem. 2001, 40, 4263; Organometallics 2001, 20, 3017; Macromolecules 1997, 30, 1562; Organometallics, 2001, 20, 1056; JACS 2001, 123, 10746; Organometallics 2000, 19, 5352; Organometallics, 2001, 20, 3560; Dalton Trans. 1993, 2861; WO 00/69922A1; and WO 01/30860A1; EP1170308A2; WO02/090366; Chem Commun. 2000, 459; EP0834514A2; Organic Letters 2002, 4, 2853; J. Chem. Soc. Dalton Trans. 1997, 2487; JACS 2003, 125, 2880; EP1008595A2; and DE4120344.